Multi-media artist Chika Idu has opened a new solo exhibition, Pure Water, at ARAMI, a fine-dining restaurant in the heart of Lekki Phase 1, Lagos. Staged in partnership with SMO Contemporary Art, an international platform showcasing modern and contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora, the exhibition explores ecology, migration, innocence and liberty through the faces of women and children submerged in a pristine underwater world.
Drawing from the lived realities of riverine communities, Idu’s compositions probe the tension between human survival and aquatic ecosystems. His swimmers drift with intention through an immersive, untouched world — a space of wonder set apart from the pressures above the surface.
The exhibition’s title carries a deliberate double meaning. Pure Water nods to Idu’s vision of a balanced world, but it also references the plastic sachets of drinking water that quench the thirst of millions of Nigerians in crowded, polluted cities — sachets that clog drains and waterways and degrade quality of life. Idu’s figures, swimming toward freedom against the odds, draw attention to these environmental realities while advocating for genuinely ‘pure’ waters.
